Scientific Anomaly
by Burgie
Summary: Carlos thought that he'd never get used to the weirdness of Night Vale. But then he fell in love. Cecilos, oneshot


The day had been like any other, ordinary day- or at least as close to 'normal' as a day could be in a place like Night Vale. Sure, there had been the strange shadowy figures appearing in odd places around town, but a little strangeness was to be expected in Night Vale. And, to top off a perfectly ordinary day, Cecil was going on a date with his perfect Carlos. He always enjoyed spending the night at Arby's with his boyfriend.

And so it was that everything up to this point, walking hand-in-hand along the footpath through town, had been perfect. Cecil tried to pay attention to what Carlos was saying, but his super-sensitive hearing was picking up on a faint rustling sound like pages in a book.

"We haven't finished the tests yet but so far we think that the shadowy figures don't exist," he was saying with that perfect voice of his. "It's like the whole town is hallucinating them and- Cecil, are you listening?" The radio host snapped back to the present, blushing slightly and running a hand through his messy black hair.

"Yeah, of course I was," he replied. Of course, he'd been mostly listening to the strange rustling sound but he'd picked up on bits of what Carlos had been saying.

"Well, if what we think is right, then this town sure hallucinates some strange things," Carlos commented with a chuckle. Oh, his chuckle was so perfect.

"We'll know more when Old Woman Josie tells us what her angels say about them," Cecil figured. Carlos had concluded that the angels, at least, were very real.

"And you'll tell all your faithful listeners when she tells you," Carlos added with a grin that would make anyone (especially Cecil) weak at the knees.

"Exactly," Cecil confirmed with a nod, and then the rustling returned, louder than before. Now even ordinary hearing could pick up on it.

"What's that rustling noise?" Carlos asked, looking around in confusion. While the rustling was of a normal volume to normal ears, it was near-deafening to those with sensitive ears, so Cecil couldn't hear him.

A figure composed of shadow separated itself from the shadows along the side of the footpath, and instantly prickles shot up Cecil's spine. The prickles spread throughout his body and he let go of Carlos' hand to jump in front of him protectively. He hunched over somewhat as his entire skeleton changed, becoming more quadruped than biped. His jaws stretched into something resembling a snout in order to accommodate the addition of several more, much sharper, teeth. Finally, he emitted a sound comparable only to Khoshekh when he was hungry, and the shadowy figure slid back along the pavement. But that was only the start of the strangeness.

Suddenly, the shadowy figure transformed much like Cecil had and the two fought with sharp teeth and claws that could shred through anything. The need to kill, to fight, to defend his mate, overcame the formerly human-shaped creature, but one thought prevailed- 'keep the monster away from perfect Carlos'. Whether it applied to the shadowy figure or to Cecil was unclear, but really, it didn't matter.

Blood soon spilled on the pavement, a blood that was as black as the figure it came from. The black creature emitted a howling shriek and attacked with renewed vigour, trying to get at the human watching with a mix of awe and fear. The attack seemed to be successful as, soon, red blood joined the black blood. But Cecil would not give in. His eyes, along with the eyes of his tattoos, glowed bright red with rage and his swipes became concentrated on the other creature's head. And, at last, he managed to get his clawed hands around the black creature's thick neck and kept it occupied while his snout went in for the kill.

One single, piercing guttural shriek split the night air. And then all was silent.

With the danger gone, Cecil reformed into his human shape. His clothing hung in tatters and there were several gashes on his body, plus he was panting, but other than that he was okay.

"Are you alright?" he asked Carlos, approaching his boyfriend. The scientist nodded shakily, still trying to come to terms with what had just happened. The transformation, and then the shadowy figure, and then the ensuing fight, all defied the laws of science.

"Yes," the frightened scientist admitted to his boyfriend. "I think the better question, though, would be are you alright? You're bleeding and you just transformed into this monster and killed another monster." Cecil smiled at his perfect boyfriend fussing over him.

"Of course I'm alright- I won the fight and saved your life," Cecil shrugged. "But, if it'll make you feel better, you can tend to my wounds."

"I'll take some samples as well so I can figure out just what you are," Carlos decided, still looking curiously at the blood on the pavement. The body of the shadow creature had, strangely enough, become a shadow once more, laid out on the pavement where the creature had died.

The next day, the shadow was still there. This confused the scientist a great deal, as there was no possibly way that anything could be making a shadow like that. It wasn't a stain and, as his tests had proven, the shadowy figure just wasn't there. But he'd seen it, he'd seen its blood hit the ground, he'd seen its claws digging into the creature that Cecil had turned into! Scientifically, it was impossible. But it had happened. He was still standing there scratching his head when Cecil arrived.

"Well?" his radio host prodded, coming up behind him. "What did you find out?" Ironically, Carlos found Cecil's voice to be perfect just as Cecil found everything about Carlos to be perfect.

"It's just a shadow. The blood's a shadow, that shadow's a shadow, even the bits of flesh I got from your fingernails are just shadows. But I saw it with my own eyes," Carlos informed him, dragging his hand down his face in confusion.

"And what about me?" Cecil asked, standing right on top of the shadow or corpse or whatever it was.

"Shapeshifter," Carlos replied. "Your blood is perfectly human but the blood from that creature you turned into was kind of like animal blood- specifically, a wolf. But you didn't look like a wolf. And your tattoos I can't explain either. It's just... impossible. You're a scientific anomaly, Cecil."

"Well, it's better than not existing," Cecil figured with a kind of goofy smile.

"Pretty much everything in this town is a scientific anomaly, actually," Carlos continued. "But... you're my favourite one." At that, Cecil grinned and stepped forward to hug Carlos tightly, pressing his face into his chest to hide whatever ridiculous expression he was currently sporting.

As they walked away, Cecil spoke again: "If you thought that transformation last night was weird, you should see the tentacles." This, unlike most things in this town, did not surprise Carlos in the slightest. Maybe he was going native. Or maybe he was just in love.

* * *

**This is the first time I've wrote for this fandom (also the first time I've been inspired enough to create fan content one day after catching up with a fandom) so my apologies if this isn't all that good. I hope it is, though. The monster looked kind of like the werewolf from Doctor Who and I think the "going native" quote is from there too but I got that from a Doctor Who-related ask blog. This oneshot is kind of inspired by kye-draws-things . tumblr post /58126527815 /possessive-protective-cecil-is-best-cecil**


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